An Endorsement For Suozzi

Mark Bitz, an OnondagaÂ turkey farmer, author and government reform activist, is urging Democrats to vote for Nassau County Executive Tom Suozzi over AG Eliot Spitzer next Tuesday, calling it “the surest vote to register your desire to end Albany’s dysfunction and create a prosperous New York State.”

Bitz agrees with Suozzi’s longstanding claim that Spitzer is too much of an insiderÂ andÂ too close to special interests toÂ be able to mark the hard choices that true reform requires. He’s alsoÂ impressed by Suozzi’s record of turning around Nassau County.

“Spitzer, like (Gov.Â George) Pataki, is likely to tinker around the edges of reform,” Bitz wrote in this op-ed piece, which he is trying to place with several newspapers (including the TU). “He will not offend the hand that feeds him, and would fund a run forÂ president. Conversely, Tom Suozzi, is not supported by these powerful interests. If he is elected, his base will be people like you and me, people whose interestsÂ Albany hasÂ ignored for 30 years.”Â

Bitz is a realist. He’s not arguing that Suozzi needs to win. A better-than-expected showing by the county executive, Bitz said, will send a message to Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno (who both Bitz and Suozzi think need to be replaced) that “we are fed up with their cozy relationships with public sector unions and with their dysfunction.”

Bitz is the president of Plainville Farms. He’s also the head of FreeNYS.org and author of theÂ interesting, but ponderously-titledÂ “Creating a Prosperous New York State: Making Elected Officials Accountable for New York State’s Performance Relative to Other States.”

Bitz’s personal campaign to change Albany was born in 2004 in the wake of the Brennan Center report that dubbed New York’s state government the most dysfunctional in the nation. His Web site created a flap by including a button that enabled people to send e-mails demanding change directly to their legislators as well as party leaders.

The stateÂ complained about the high volume of e-mails, accused Bitz of helping people “spam” lawmakers and called on the site’s host to shut it down. That host complied, so Bitz found a different one.Â Â